One month after inter-Korean summit

Just one month after the June 13-15 inter-Korean summit, most disturbing is the utterance of indiscreet remarks by high-ranking government officials. Joining in the "wordplay" are not only official suite members but also private entourages, adding to the fuss.

A typical case is the controversy over the revelation that President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il agreed that Pyongyang would

revise some clauses of the North Korean Workers` Party`s covenant. An official attendant said in a private meeting with a group of ruling party lawmakers that North Korean leader Kim had expressed willingness to amend the communist party`s rules.

Moreover, it is revealed that Lim Dong-Won, chief of the National Intelligence Service, had visited North Korea in secret prior to the Pyongyang summit. Such an insensible disclosure cannot be tolerated in advanced nations.

At a seminar of the Northeast Asia Peace Forum on July 4, Unification Minister Park Jae-Kyu went as far as to say that the South and North Korean leaders had discussed the question of allowing the displaced family members in the two Koreas to regularly visit their hometowns and to settle there, as they wish.

Prof. Kwon Man-Hak of Kyunghee University commented that the paradigm to evaluate each is changing since the Pyongyang summit. For the sound development of inter-Korean relations, they should restrain their remarks that lead to excessive optimism and pessimism.